The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Adonis Villanueva, via Shutterstock)OPINION: For public affairs companies that work to impact policy on behalf of their clients – and especially those that represent business interests — the post-Blue Wave environment means that the old school, relationship approach will be less effective than proactive policy and district impact programs.
Donald Trump, left, stands with Hillary Clinton at the first presidential debate Monday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. (Photo: AP/Evan Vucci)Within the wide Clinton debate win numbers, we can see variations among key portions of the electorate. The most striking is the partisan breakdown. For Democrats, the Clinton performance was an affirming event – with 90% of registered Democrats saying that she won the debate. Among Republicans, this was flipped, with 57% saying that Trump won.
U.S. Senate candidates debate in San Diego. Left to right: Duf Sundheim, Kamala Harris, Loretta Sanchez, Ron Unz, Tom Del Beccaro. (Photo: KPBS)Republican Duf Sundheim started on the attack at Wednesday’s debate in San Diego among five candidates vying to be California’s next U.S. senator. But the GOP hopeful missed hard on a fact about the state’s violent crime rate.
Former Legislators Nancy Skinner and Sandre Swanson at a candidates' debate in the 9th Senate District. (Photos: Sam-Omar HallThe race to represent the East Bay in the California Senate is going to be a doozy. In this liberal district, a Democrat is almost certain to retain the seat held by termed-out incumbent Loni Hancock. The question is: which Democrat?
The California state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Shutterstock)OPINION: With more than a dozen major tax measures moving through the Legislature or toward the November 2016 ballot, California’s perennial debate about taxes is set to begin anew — with millions of dollars in political campaigns preparing to shape how the state will raise billions of dollars in revenue, and provide public services, for years to come.
A youngster gets his vaccination shot. (Photo: Luiscar74, via Shutterstock) Gov. Brown today signed one of the strictest laws in the nation requiring vaccinations for schoolchildren, saying “science is clear that vaccines dramatically protect children against a number of infectious diseases.” The new law bars parents from invoking religious or personal beliefs in order to keep their children from being vaccinated, but it does allow for an exemption with the approval of the child’s doctor.
A homeless man in a wheelchair wiping his eyes at a pier in Oceanside, Calif. (Photo: David Little via Shutterstock)We are moving into the post-industrial age, an era of mechanized production, where machines can increasingly do jobs that used to pay real people livable wages. In California, we have strong environmental and labor regulations that did not exist at the birth of the industrial age. These rules have improved and saved lives of workers and the communities where manufacturing plants are based. But they have also driven costs of manufacturing higher.
Gov. Jerry Brown makes a point during an hour-long debate with challenger Neel Kashkari. Reporters followed the confrontation on nearby video monitors. (Capitol Weekly/Tim Foster)A fast-paced, sometimes raucous confrontation between incumbent Gov. Jerry Brown and challenger Neel Kashkari shed some light and more heat on an array of issues facing Californians, but there were no knockout blows and it was uncertain whether the only debate of the campaign two months before Election Day would have an impact on voters.
The reason, Reed says, is that the Attorney General used the word “eliminate” in describing his proposal to end the vested benefit rights of public employees. “This is the only recourse we have to correct something that is inaccurate and misleading,” said Reed of the Attorney General’s description of his measure. But Reed has a problem: He and his allies used the same word he’s criticizing the Attorney General for using – “eliminate” – when detailing his ballot measure.
In 2011, fueled by pro-development and business interests, the state of Nevada passed legislation intended aimed at ending what many saw as a blissful, decades-old union with California — the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.